Evidently, Dell's processing costs didn't outweigh the revenue Dell was getting from Bitcoin. I'm somewhat surprised, because it at least makes a little more sense to buy a $3500 gaming laptop with Bitcoin than spend Bitcoin to buy, say, a $50 game from Steam. (Which also recently discontinued Bitcoin payments.) I deeply suspect other companies besides Dell have discontinued their experiment with Bitcoin.

I'm sorry I missed Dell's original discontinuation notice, but then again, Googling "Dell discontinued Bitcoin payments" shows little or now media coverage -- even though Dell is one of the biggest companies to attempt trading in Bitcoin.

Cryptocurrency Shopping Guide: How To Shop With Bitcoin ... Many people think of cryptocurrency primarily as an investment. However, just like cash, cryptocurrency also can buy all kinds of products and services. Coinmap offers a global map of businesses that accept bitcoin from the jewelry franchise Reeds jewelers to NBA tickets to see the Sacramento Kings. These days, people even are buying artisanal honey, Steam video games and Dell computer products with bitcoin. Shoppers even can convert newer tokens like ether or dash into everyday purchases.

Every media outlet which covered how many companies announced Bitcoin acceptance should do a follow-up to find out how many still do. It's the difference from fairly covering cryptocurrency as seriously as the subject deserves -- as opposed to being boosterish about short term PR gimmicks. Remember during the Second Life media hype period, how long it took for news outlets to notice low user growth? Or for that matter, low user visits to SL sims owned by big companies like, well, Dell?